Nodding with my own smile, I glanced at my boots, which had just saved me from a bite to the foot. Screw sneakers, I’d be taking a pair of boots with me to the end.
Looking up from the fire, Jarvis asked, “What’s your name?” while shifting his shoulders toward Mr. Ammo.
Pausing for a moment, Mr. Ammo looked at all three of us and finally responded, “Aidan.”
“Well, Aidan, I think you know our names, right?”
Nodding his head, he replied, “Yeah, I know who you are.”
“Do you? Or do you just know what Gordon told you about us?”
Thinking about this for a minute, obviously trying to choose his words carefully, Aidan replied, “I know you took up arms against Gordon and nearly killed him before he had the chance to escape your castle.”
Holding up his gauntlet, Kyle chuckled, repeating the word, “Castle.”
“Do you know who Gordon Green is? Do you really?” Not giving Aidan a chance to respond, Jarvis continued.
“A little known fact is that I was Gordon’s business associate for almost twenty years.”
Realizing we were about to be in for a hell of a story, Kyle sat up and cracked open another mini-bottle filled with bourbon.
“At first, we set off with all the right intentions, building wealth in the right ways. We were simply in the pursuit of what we called the three W’s.”
He took a breath, and paused with a slight smirk.
“Wealth, women and wild parties, boys. We were young, figuring out the world. Our business endeavors were on the level, and we had a heck of a time. Gordon is a brilliant man. There is no doubt about that. Once he started investing in the stock market there was nothing that could stop him. I would be amazed at the types of calls he would make, and at how often they would pay off. He simply seemed to always know which way the wind was blowing… and he was quick to cast his sail when it picked up a good breeze.”
Kyle reached down to flip the chunk of glowing metal in the fire, and turned his attention back to Jarvis.
“That smart bastard made our little holding millions. Heck, tens of millions. There was nothing stopping us. Money simply wasn’t a challenge anymore… and that may have been the problem.”
With a sigh, Jarvis dug his boot down and took a swig of his own mini-bottle.
“I can’t pinpoint the change, but at some point, Gordon’s mind started to twist. The same brilliance and drive that brought wealth seemed to have turned on him and started to push his desire to seek control. He wasn’t satisfied with money. He wanted power… and not the kind of power one gets sitting in an office chair on the one-hundredth floor of their own skyscraper. He was more interested in power over people.”
Looking over at the metal in the fire, Jarvis took the last swig from his mini-bottle, tossed it into the flames, and cracked open another.
“I wish I could say I saw it come all at once, but really, it came over time. I may have been able to harness his ambition. However, ultimately, I didn’t fully realize what he was capable of until it was too late.”
“You mean the Arena at Avalon?” Kyle asked.
Shaking his head, Jarvis responded, “No, that came later. Gordon’s freshman effort is where I really started to question his actions. It’s where the first sliver of the divide started between us… culminating in the eventual takeover of Avalon.”
He paused for a moment to look out at the fire. I was reminded of the creatures moving through the forest below us. The low, echoing, unified moan from the horde was moving through, around the forest flames, and away from us.
“You see, he knew he couldn’t have power without surrounding himself with powerful people, so he created a world within a world that he knew he could sell to the elite of New York. Outfitting a broken-down abandoned building that had ceased construction after 9/11, he created what I can only reference as a mini-compound right in the middle of the city. Outfitting it with bunk beds, a cafeteria, and entertainment areas, he managed to build his own control area. Once complete, he simply opened it up to anybody that would be willing to come in and live. Everything was paid for—food, shelter, and entertainment. There were a few caveats that everybody who lived there had to sign on for. First, anybody who entered had to agree not to leave for three months. They would forfeit their clothing, any possessions, and had to agree to live by the compounds rules, of which there were very few.
They would also agree to be video recorded at all times. There were cameras at each bunk, the cafeteria, and the entertainment areas. He even had cameras in the bathrooms… in the toilets and the showers. Privacy was completely signed away by the compounds’ inhabitants.”
Kyle reached over to a pile of wood that we’d gathered and threw a log onto the fire, sending embers floating out over the ravine. I watched as they parachuted down into the abyss and quietly out of sight.
“The compound attracted people from all ways of life. He had vagrants off the street that were happy to have a hot meal and a place to sleep. Then he had well-off people who just simply wanted to be part of his experiment. The people had to have all been a little nuts to join, but I think that is exactly what Gordon wanted.”
I glanced over at Aidan. It was clear from the expression on his young face that he was hanging on Jarvis’s every word.
“Gordon didn’t let me in on his little secret world until he had it up and running. He took me down there for the first time, and I witnessed what people turned into when they had no rules, no responsibilities, and were encouraged to do whatever they wanted. At first, I thought the idea to be brilliant. Something that he may be able to televise… kind of reality TV-esque. However, I quickly realized this wasn’t meant for the masses.
He took me to a back room that was outfitted with chairs and large flat panel TV monitors. The technology involved was amazing. Mission Control at NASA headquarters didn’t have jack on Gordon Green’s compound. The room also featured a one-way glass mirror that opened to a large white room fitted with padded walls. A number of prominent people of New York were plopped down in those chairs… simply watching the madness ensue. Looking up at the monitors, I was shocked to see people openly having sex on one screen, a fight breaking out on another. Two nearly naked men were picking a fight with a woman, nearly beating her to death for what seemed like fun. Nobody was there to interfere or stop anything.”
Pulling a deep breath into his lungs, Jarvis popped open another mini-bottle and chugged it down. I wasn’t sure if he was killing the pain of his leg, or the memory of Gordon’s compound. As he grew more intoxicated, his calm demeanor started to wane. In addition to the serious look growing across his face, I noticed Jarvis had an edge to him that I had previously not seen.
“That was when two men were pulled into the padded room. They both appeared be vagrants by my count. Rail thin with scruffy beards and matted hair. I watched Gordon pick up a microphone and instruct the two to fight. Only the winner would be allowed to stay in his world. So they did—fight, I mean. They beat the shit out of each other, boys, all because Gordon found his way to control. His way to entertain the powerful. He had become a celebrity of sorts. Famous within the ranks of the nation’s elites… and he was drunk on the power.”
Aidan finally asked, “Why did you go along with it? I mean, why did you stay friends with him? You could have just dropped all dealings with him if you truly were appalled by it.” He said this in a nearly accusatory way. However, I found myself questioning the same thing in the back of my mind.
“I have to admit, the whole thing was a bit intoxicating, boys. The rush of the fight, the control he had over the fifty or so inhabitants living down there and the caliber of people paying high dollar to come and watch his little experiment… well, let’s just say that I’m talking former presidents, CEOs and military leaders.